Mosaic by Christian Scherer

This brand new book from Vanishing Inc feels like a return to “classic” magic books. Do you remember the days of reading a magic book and having to gather materials to build the trick? Often to be a magician meant you were also a builder, or at the very least, a crafter. As we have moved into the modern era of instant gratification, magic rarely requires you to “do it yourself,” and when it does, it’s often spoken of negatively. Instead, companies give you finished products complete with full scripting. Magic books emphasize impromptu magic, card tricks, or magic with “organic” products.

Mosaic is a step back into the world of “do it yourself” magic. Almost every trick in the book requires you to build the props from the ground up. This is not a book of instant gratification magic. There is a lot of work to be done if you want to use any of these routines, but that’s part of the charm of the book.

I’ll briefly describe the routines and give you some simple things to think on for each. You should also know Vanishing Inc provides full performances of many of the routines in the book.

The book begins with a Preface by Roberto Giobbi and an Introduction from Christian that explains the title of the book.

Chapter 1: More Than Small Change

The Matter Transmitter - This is Scherer’s take on Cylinder and Coins using a small cup and a small die. Coins vanish one at a time and reappear all at once under the die. The die and coins then change places. 

This is the classic routine with a change of props that make a little more sense than just a cylinder and a cork.

Chinese Fortune Coins - A Spellbound routine where three black Chinese coins change into blue, red, and yellow colored Chinese coins.

This is one of the easier routines to make up because it only involves painting some black Chinese coins with enamel. The routine has a nice flow and the displays are convincing. The spectator can examine the three coins before the routine begins, but they can’t examine them after the changes.

The World's Smallest Currency Converter - Three coins change to Japanese coins in an “electronic” box.

You’ll have to make three special coin gimmicks that seem quite specialized for this. The routine is pretty clean, but I don’t love the presentation.

Chapter 2: Enigmatic Happenings

Escaped - A rope is threaded through the handle of a mug. The ends of the rope are tied and the mug (on the rope) is thrown over your shoulder. You show the mug on the rope one last time before reaching behind your back and releasing the mug from the rope by “secretly” cutting the rope. When the rope is revealed, it is whole and has not been cut. Everything can be examined.

This is pretty easy to make up. It uses a special gimmick that can be rung in and out leaving everything examinable. It’s a unique trick that definitely feels a bit “of its time.”

Weaned from Smoking - This is an initialed handling of Tenyo’s Zig Zag Cig with a presentation about a friend being weaned from smoking.

It’s a great elevation of the classic prop into a full performance piece, but it’s another piece that feels a little dated to me.

The Magic Stones of Stonehenge - This is a matrix routine with four small stones and postcards of Stonehenge. It ends with a surprise appearance of a large Stonehenge-type rock.

I think this is a charming matrix routine with a nice presentation. You’ll have to make or find the stones, but it isn’t too difficult, and I think it makes more sense than a typical matrix routine with coins. It’s certainly more intriguing and memorable. 

Mary’s Charm - A charm necklace appears and disappears.

This is the first of many routines in the book that makes use of a Topit. Of course the biggest disadvantage with these types of routines is that it requires a jacket/sports coat to perform it. The presentation wasn’t my favorite, but some of the vanishes are effective.

The Fourth Dimension - Multiple white balls appear from a clear acetate ring.

This is sort of like a coin purse type routine elevated for stand up. It’s not the most convincing routine to me, but I’ve always found coin purse routines to look exactly like what it is–pulling something out of your hand.

Free Fall - Scherer’s take on Newtons Nightmare with a die and square tube. The biggest advantage here is there is no switch required between the “slow” and “fast” die.

The presentation uses a metronome to slow down time which turns what could just be a quick gag into a full show piece. Unfortunately, this is one of the more difficult things to make up.

Motion Control - Here Scherer takes Euler's Disc and adds the ability to control when the spinning will end quickly, and when the disc will continue to spin for a very long time.

If you’ve never seen Euler’s Disc in action, it is very magical when you first see it even though it's mathematical more than anything. The gimmicking here isn’t too difficult, but still requires work. I don’t love the routine, but it’s a unique trick.

Chapter 3: The Die is Cast

The Hapless Dice Cheat - A dice stacking routine with one in the hand/two in the pocket, dice traveling from under the cup to the hand, following a red die, and a finale of a large die. 

This is a full dice stacking themed routine. It has multiple phases and no gimmicks (except for a gimmick that changes a bill into a piece of paper for one phase.) If you like the routine, it will be easy enough to assemble the items, but it does involve genuine dice stacking so if you’ve never done that, you may want to start practicing. 

Dice Player’s Spleen - The classic ball and cone gets the Scherer treatment by using logical props: a cup and large die. 

The method is similar to classic ball and cone methods, but the logic of a die and cup makes some sense. The Topit is used here as well for the finale of the white die turning red. 

Chapter 4: Cups and Balls

Essay on the Cups and Balls - This essay is an intense look at the Cups and Balls covering the plot, structure, patter, cups, balls, magic wand, table, table surface, handling of the cups, false transfers, loads, placement of the loads, loading technique, hiding the load from the audience, delayed loading, putting down loaded cups, and presenting the loads.

Click Wand - How to make a wand that clicks when you hit it.

Applied Physics - This is Scherer’s cups and balls routine with 2 cups inspired by David Williamson. 

This is where you get to see the ideas from the essay in action. It has many “classic” cups and balls moments, and his advice for the loads clearly works because his loading is some of the cleanest and most invisible I’ve ever seen. 

Cagliostro the Alchemist - This is essentially the same routine as Applied Physics but with metal mortars and steel balls. 

This is one of the most difficult things to build in the book. It will require you to have metal mortars constructed. Nothing is gimmicked, but the change of props creates a unique feel.

Chapter 5: Cards A La Carte

The Royal Fours - The Fours are removed. One changes to a King then the others change to Kings before all changing back to the Fours.

I’m not a huge fan of this as a card trick. It’s fine, and there’s nothing wrong with it, but it doesn’t excite me. It uses my least favorite presentation in all of card magic where cards are personified. It’s an outdated presentation type that is cringy to me.

Another Fancy False Cut - A slight flourishy cut.

An easy to do flourish cut that isn’t too showoffish.

A card index - An index for speed and ease

This is a pretty simple index to make up for those in need.

The Poetry of Magic - The Aces are removed from a deck, and the deck is thoroughly shuffled by a spectator. Twelve cards are put into three wine glasses. The performer holds the remaining twelve cards. One Ace is put with each of the twelve cards. Without seeing anything happen, all of the cards have now sorted themselves. Behind the Ace of Clubs are all the other clubs in order. Behind the Ace of Spades, all the spades in order, and so on.

This is a nice stand up performance piece. He teaches his handling of a really clean deck switch that uses a Topit. The entire deck is gimmicked and you’ll have to make all of the gimmick cards. Scherer recommends using Phoenix Double Deckers to construct the deck, but be warned, it will be several hours of work to create. It’s a very nice performance piece though that really seems impossible.

Is It a Trick? - A card is selected and the deck spread facedown on the table. The magician is able to find the chosen card. 

This is a simple card trick with a simple method. It’s well constructed and right to the point even if it is a little “basic.” 

Good Luck Number - A number is chosen between one and ten. Two cards with that value are removed from a shuffled deck. They now count down to the secret number and remember the card at that position. The two cards with the chosen value are put back on top of the deck and the deck is handed to the magician under the table. The magician removes the deck from under the table and shows he knew the chosen number by turning one card faceup in that position from the bottom of the deck. He then deals the amount of cards equal to the chosen number onto each number card and the last card is the selected card.

If this sounds hard to understand, it is. The plot is convoluted, and to me, not super impressive. It’s certainly not a linear card plot. It also requires a faro without looking under the table. 

The Oracle of Bern - Scherer’s take on the open prediction/51 Faces North.

This is a simple ungimmicked take using one move to make the entire routine happen.

French Leave - Scherer’s version of Paul Harris’s Interlaced Vanish.

Scherer has added some nice subtleties and a strong ending with an Ace traveling to the card box (via a duplicate.)

Uncanny Reflex - Paul Harris’s classic Reflex effect but using a gun lighter to beat you to their chosen card.

The addition of the gun lighter prop brings some levity to the routine, and makes it play a little bigger than the original. It’s not my cup of tea, but it’s cute.

The Missing Page - Here Scherer takes on Vernon’s Travelers with a presentation of reading instructions out of a magic book that is missing a page. The four signed Aces travel to four different pockets. Only one palm is used, and it’s used as the last Ace after three very clean reveals so there is no suspicion at that point.

This fooled me when I watched the performance. It uses a Topit as a clever way to load a card. The fact that you get to reveal three of the signed Aces without a palm is pretty awesome. I think this is a really great take on Vernon’s Travelers. It’s so clean–nothing seems to happen at all.

Hofzinser’s Glove - A fun routine where a glove (that no one is wearing) locates a signed selected card from a box by pinching it between its index “finger” and thumb.

This is clever and really unique. It’s easy to build, and the visual of the glove holding on to the selected card is unexpected and memorable. 

Phantasmagoria - This is an odd one. A card is put into a card case and the card case is put in a doctor's bag. A card is then selected and a sticker is signed and put on the chosen card which is lost in the deck. The deck is dribbled into the doctor bag, and after a moment, the card case is removed. The card is removed from the card case and it is the signed card.

This is a very unique effect. It requires building a few different things, but it’s nothing too difficult. I don’t love the trick; the plot is confusing to me. It’s quite a strange premise. 

Chapter 6: Intriguing Occurrences

Fisherman’s Yarn - This is a stage version of Tenyo’s Sakkaku Scale done with a ruler and two fish. 

If you haven’t seen Sakkaku Scale, you should look it up. It’s an amazing trick built out of the classic boomerang optical illusion. Scherer has adapted this trick into a stand up version with a fun story, a surprise vanish of a medal, and a clever clean up that leaves everything “as it should be.” It will be a lot of work to build all of the required props and make them all look good, but I like the routine and the idea of measuring fish fits perfectly. 

Gone Terribly Wrong - This is a three cup monte first played with the cups upside down and a ball. The cups are then turned up and the game is played with water. At the end, two of the cups are empty and the last cup that should contain the water is full of confetti instead.

This is the classic slush powder water monte routine, but Scherer has created one special cup that can be upside down, but dispenses slush powder when turned right-side-up, and a special cup that can be turned upside down, but dispenses confetti when the time is right. It will require building the gimmicks for the cups, but it isn’t TOO hard. It definitely adds to the original routine.

Magic Miniature Golf - Golf balls vanish and reappear under a “hole.” The three balls then vanish and reappear in the original ball holder.

This is a cute golf themed effect with three golf balls vanishing and reappearing. You’ll have to source the foam golf balls and make the “hole” and “ball holder” gimmicks. He also uses an expanding golf club as a magic wand which is a nice touch. It’s a good bit of theming that turns a kind of boring trick into an entertaining one.

Keep Away from Card Cheating Games - Three card monte type routine with large cards. Three red cards and one black card is shown. One red card is removed and the black card is put in the middle of the other two red cards. However, when it’s shown a moment later, the performer is holding only three red cards and the card put aside at the beginning is the black card. This phase is repeated, and then for the finale, the cards are shown to be three black cards with only one red card.

I like this routine for a stand up situation. It’s totally ungimmicked and easy to do. It makes use of the Flustration Count in a very well disguised way that may even fool magicians. All appears very fair throughout. This is one of the most practical routines in the book if you’re looking for a simple monte-style routine for parlour. 

A Childhood Dream - Six card repeat with bills.

This will require making up a few gimmicked bills, but the never ending money is certainly more appealing and relatable than the never ending cards. 

Cause and Effect - Chinese Sticks routine.

Scherer teaches how to make these Chinese Sticks from scratch. Three sticks are used in his routine and the biggest plus is that they are thin and can be held vertically without the string getting pulled in. It’s a clever construction that will take some time to make, but will be worth it once you do.

The book ends with some Parting Thoughts and a sweet look at the life and person of Christian through a couple of his friends Like a Swiss Clockwork. It also contains a Bibliography and a list of Christian’s publications from 1979-2021

Overall, this was a nostalgic release that brought me back to my younger days of reading magic books. This book encourages you to slow down and appreciate the hard work that goes into making a magic routine. These aren’t routines you will be able to read today and perform tomorrow. They will take time, devotion, and work. But that’s part of the fun. I think some of the routines feel a little dated and may not be as relevant for modern audiences, but if you like the sound of any of these routines, you won’t be disappointed by the method. The routines are all practical and smart.

Available for $59.95 here:

https://www.vanishingincmagic.com/magic-books/mosaic-christian-scherer/